


Calamitous Love & Insurmountable Grief

by Wreckmyplanss



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:20:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28930887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wreckmyplanss/pseuds/Wreckmyplanss
Summary: San Francisco, 2017. Chloe & Max wake up in bed together and enjoy a shared slice-of-life moment before snapping a photo to commemorate the memory. Finally, they are healing. Together.The story behind the photo from LIS2 and the lives of Chloe & Max after the storm.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield & Chloe Price
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	Calamitous Love & Insurmountable Grief

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoy! This has been in my brain for a while and I just needed to get it out there. It is unedited so I hope it's good, thanks for reading!

# SAN FRANCISCO, CA / AUGUST 2017

# 

Max had gotten used to the warm and sunny mornings that California had to offer. Sometimes, she found herself waking up in the middle of the night, expecting to be surrounded by the storm again, but it quickly faded as she remembered where she was.

It was still early, and Max found herself turning, facing the other girl, who was laying on her stomach, snoring lightly. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she scooted closer, laying her head on Chloe’s pillow.

Chloe’s hair reflected sunlight, as bright and green as after. Not long after Arcadia Bay was eaten up by the storm, she had decided to simply let the colour fade out rather than keep it up. It suited her, matching the colour of the tattoo peeking out over her shoulder. She would never get tired of how the minor details would still take her breath away, still make her blush when Chloe caught her staring. If she saw her now, she would make fun of her all day. She couldn’t help herself, though. She still found herself checking her breathing, ensuring she was still with her, still alive and well. She would never let it go if she lost her again.

Silently, Max fought off the urge to wake her and just moved closer on the bed. Brushing hair away from Chloe’s shoulder with her fingertips, she pressed a kiss to the bright tattoo that greeted her. Chloe shifted between being a light sleeper and sleeping like a log, and today seemed to be the former as she slowly started to stir at the action. 

“Ughhhhh, five more minutes,” she argued, turning to lay on her side. Before Max could say anything, she was being pulled into a hug as Chloe wrapped her arms around her tightly. Sucking in a breath, she settled, deciding she can wait five more minutes. She nuzzled into Chloe’s chest, feeling her breath hit her collarbone, her eyes slowly drifting closed so her other senses can take over. As Chloe fell back asleep, breathing heavily above her, she found it hard to not fall back asleep.

An hour or so passed before they finally started to wake up. The room they were in was a brightly lit apartment bedroom. Along the walls, Chloe’s punk rock posters were perfectly placed in between Max’s polaroids, making a unique but very them look to the room. The window was half-covered by a blind, giving light to a room filled with clothes on the floor and soda cans laying around. It was a little cramped, but it was home, and it was theirs.

Chloe woke first this time, blinking the world into focus as she still had her arms wrapped around Max’s smaller body. She smirked to herself before pressing a kiss to the top of her head, trying to peel away from her. Max grunted, halfway between this world and a world of sleep, and gripped her tighter.

“Max,” she whispered, trying to free herself. “Max, I have to pee.”

Max let go, rolling onto her back, not bothering to hide the pout. Chloe’s smirk only grew, and she leaned forward to kiss the pout off her lips. Max wasn’t going to complain about that, and she let Chloe go, instead occupying herself with her camera, which was sitting on the nightstand. Getting a bed that wasn’t just a mattress on the floor had been a big deal to the two of them, first steps into “being grown ups” as Chloe had joked. Naturally, they’d had to get a nightstand. Max loved how domestic they had become, as though nothing had happened to them several years ago, as though they could finally recover.

At that thought, she stood up from the bed and walked over to the wall on the left. It had a crack in it, which Max had lined photos through, as though she was trying to be poetic. In the middle, her favourite photo of them all - a shot of Chloe sitting by the lake, a hat backwards on her head, and a genuine laugh on her lips. It was so simple yet so beautiful, and Max had to look at it every morning, and remind herself what she was protecting.

Even without using her rewind powers, she still felt as though she had an obligation to protect Chloe. After all, she had burned down the world for her, and she would do it a million times over. It had taken a lot to control the trauma from Arcadia Bay and become okay with what happened, but with Chloe’s help, she had chased away the nightmares for the most part. She wouldn’t give her up for the entire world.

“You look at that photo a lot,” Chloe commented as she walked in, making Max jump slightly. Even though they’d been together for years and she should really be over the nervousness, she still blushed. 

“Uh, yeah, I like it,” she simply said, biting her lip back as she approached the other. Chloe hadn’t changed out of her tank top she’d slept in, but she’d brushed her hair and looked a little more awake. As soon as she was close, Chloe took advantage and pulled her in by her waist. She hadn’t noticed how physically affectionate Chloe had become until the day they left the Bay and their relationship moved somewhere new. Even as kids, Chloe was physically affectionate, but it had certainly not been to this extent. Max wondered if she was like that with everyone or if she was the exception. 

“How’d you sleep?” Chloe asked, smirking, that familiar look in her eyes. Fuck you, Chloe Price, Max thought to herself as she blushed furiously.

“Good,” she answered, choosing to ignore Chloe’s expression. Sometimes she still felt like a teenager, when they had accidentally held hands or brushed cheeks or something that made Max nearly explode. Chloe had always been beautiful, and she just looked better as she got older. Even now, without make up or even trying at all, she looked like a million dollars. Max knew she was awkward, covered in freckles, and shy, she didn’t know why someone like Chloe could want her. But here they were, in an apartment they shared together. Crazier things have happened, she guessed.

“Earth to Max. Where do you keep going?” Chloe asked, waving a hand in front of her face.

She could say something super smooth right now, like, lost in your eyes, or whatever. Instead, Max fumbled over her words, and all she managed to blurt out was, “pretty.”

PRETTY, Max? That’s all? Jesus, she should’ve been a public speaker.

Thankfully, Chloe laughed. “Smooth as ever, Super Max.” For a while, Max had hated that nickname, but Chloe insisted it was true, as she’d saved Chloe’s life. Before Max can say anything else stupid, Chloe uses her strength to grab her and throw her onto the bed, ignoring the squeal of surprise that Max let out.

Chloe kissed her, and as quickly as they came, her nerves disappeared. She was always so gentle, so loving but so passionate at the same time, as though every kiss was meant to express how much she appreciated her and loved her. She supposed that’s what a kiss should be. The taller woman was comfortable and safe, and Max felt her every fear and worry fading into the distance as she melted into the kiss. Wrapping her arms around her neck, she held her there as long as possible before they had to break for air.

She had felt speechless that first night that Chloe kissed her after the storm, and she felt speechless now, never quite being able to get rid of the control that her crush had on her. Chloe smirked once more and leaned in to kiss her again before she pulled apart to speak.

“It’s time for lesson number three today, Max. You promised me!” She leaned down once more to kiss her nose and then she leaped off the bed, leaving Max feeling cold and empty like she always did whenever Chloe wasn’t wrapped up with her. Sitting up, Chloe frowned at her.

“But it’s supposed to rain today….”

“No it’s not,” Chloe argued, putting her hands on the end of the bed. “What’s scary, Max? You aren’t going to fall, I’ll be right there by your side.”

It was stupid, how she tore the world apart with time travel powers but was scared of a skateboard. She had never learned as a kid and wasn’t going to now, but Chloe had insisted, and she couldn’t say no to her. “Fine,” she grumbled, and Chloe’s grin felt totally worth it.

“Fuck yeah!” She said, grabbing Max’s arms to pull her up so that she was standing. Before Max could say anything else, she curled her fingers under Max’s chin and leaned her head up so she could kiss her again and Max was pretty sure she was going to explode. God, she loved her, with every fiber of her being, in every timeline or universe she existed in. When their lips parted once more, Max couldn’t help but whine a little bit, and immediately cursed herself when Chloe laughed.

“Do you remember when I tried to teach you when we were kids?” Chloe inquired, moving her hand from Max’s chin to brush hair out of her face. Max was fairly certain she had stars in her eyes as she answered with a slow nod. 

“And then I fell and bruised my knee,” she said, waiting for Chloe to bring up the rest of the story, where her mind had already wandered. All of the memories mixed in and formed a beautiful collage of the two of them slowly and surely falling in love over the years. Max had, at least. She’d known she had feelings for Chloe since she was thirteen, but she was too scared to pursue them, and even more scared when they moved away.

“Well, it won’t be like that this time. Buuuuut if it is, I’ll kiss you somewhere other than your knee this time.” She winked, but Max didn’t catch it in time as she nuzzled up to Chloe’s neck, pressing her lips there gently. Chloe had a way of bringing out the softness in her, a side of her no one got to see except the green-haired beauty. After all they’d been through, it made sense; after the storm, they really only had each other in the world.

As Chloe wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and sighed contentedly, Max wasn’t sure she minded that at all.

Not long after they left Arcadia Bay, they found their way to Max’s parents house and stayed there for a few weeks while trying to figure out where to go from there. Trying to hide from her parents the trauma she’d been through was impossible, especially when Max kept waking up from constant nightmares. The girls agreed to go to therapy and it helped for a while, but in truth Chloe was the only one who could ground her properly.

They decided to take their GEDs, neither of them wanting to return to high school. When her parents began dropping hints that they should start working again, try to save some money, they recognized that they wanted them to move on and move out. Ryan & Vanessa learned pretty early on how the relationship between them had changed and it was clear that whatever had happened to them in the storm had made them inseparable. Wherever Chloe went, Max went.

Eventually, they graduated. Deciding to embrace the nomad life, the two of them quit their jobs and headed out on the open road in Chloe’s truck which had seen improvements in it’s life since Chloe had started bringing in some money. Finding themselves in San Francisco, they eventually met up with Max’s old high school friends who had moved there for the arts and before long they found themselves in this little apartment.

It was shoddy, it wasn’t the most elegant, but it was home. For months, they only had a mattress on the floor to sleep on, but overtime, they built their home more and more. Max remembered watching Chloe pick bathroom supplies at Ikea and she had felt her heart constrict with love so strong she was sure that she would fall over. Chloe hadn’t questioned when Max ran over and wrapped her into a hug, she’d simply smiled.

“We should get going,” Chloe said, breaking the other girl out of her thoughts. She grunted slightly, but allowed herself to be pulled away. As she watched Chloe reach for her stuff, she paused, wanting to drink in the moment as much as possible.

Reaching over for her camera, she poked Chloe on the shoulder to warn her that she was holding it out. Chloe smirked in response and posed with her, listening for the snap of the lens before she dropped her hand. 

“This is gonna give me a toothache,” Chloe said, which is her way of saying it was adorable. 

She set the photo down on the pile of photos sitting on the desk, and the girls grabbed the rest of their stuff before walking out into the summer sun, closing the door behind them. Their apartment was stuck in the side of a building, right next to a long road that you could see the shoreline from. Chloe had her skateboard in her hands and she was leading Max towards the bottom of the hill, where there was a coffee shop where they could get breakfast before starting their day.

It was all so painfully domestic and calm, and Max wouldn’t trade it for the world.


End file.
